Maple Tree Ticks: They Don't Fall from Trees—Here's the Real Story

Finding ticks in your hair after sitting under a maple tree? Entomologist Dr. Nancy Hinkle clarifies: ticks don't inhabit trees. They quest at ground level (ankle to knee height) where humidity is high, waiting for passing hosts. Once aboard, they migrate upward—hence scalp discoveries.

The Bird Tick Exception

Theresa Schrum notes that bird ticks (Ixodes brunneus) can drop from birds perched in trees, but these don't feed on humans and die after their single blood meal. Dr. Hinkle adds that many "ticks" submitted for identification turn out to be aphids, beetle larvae, or other insects.

Practical Prevention

Tuck pants into socks, wear light-colored clothing for easy tick checks, and remember: ticks climb you, not trees.

>>Theresa responds: "Your average deer tick doesn't climb trees... However, the bird tick (Ixodes brunneus) which latches itself to birds when perched low or feeding on the ground will drop off when done feeding. It's highly likely that the infested bird was perching higher in a tree when the tick let go... They are common to the Southeast.

>>Nancy replies" " I certainly concur with Ms. Schrum's response, especially since the reader made the point that it was a "big fat tick," indicating that it had already fed. Certainly a bird tick could dislodge and fall from a bird in a tree; but these ticks (1) don't feed on humans and (2) once fed, do not subsequently attach to another host (they lay eggs and die).

As you know, most people don't differentiate between ticks and various other arthropods. We've had aphids submitted as "ticks," as well as coccinellid larvae, adult beetles, and numerous other insects. Not having seen specimens of what the reader found in the pool or falling from the trees, I cannot venture a guess as to what it might have been, but I have to adhere to the science and repeat that there are no ticks that climb trees.

That said, I certainly don't expect to change everyone's preconceptions! A friend of mine frequently quotes Mark Twain's statement, "The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so."